Growth And Decay Problem

If y denote the amount of a substance at time t such that it is growing or decaying

in a rate proportional to the amount of the substance, then

dy dy
y  ky Where k is a constant
dt dt

This equation is a separable differential equation and then it could be solved to find
a relation between the amount of the substance and the time
Example 1
A certain radioactive material is known to decay at a rate proportional to the amount
present. If initially there is 50 milligrams of the material present and after two hours
it is observed that the material has lost 10 % of its original mass, find
(a) An expression for the mass of the material remaining at any time t
(b) The mass of the material after four hours
(c) The time at which the material decayed to one half of its initial mass

Solution

Let y be the amount of the material present at any time t such that y is measured
in milligrams and t is measured in hours, then

At t=0 , y=50
At t=2 , y=45 After two hours the material lost 10% of its mass
That is 10% of 50 = 5 then the amount left is 45
(a) Now

dy dy
y  ky Where k is a constant
dt dt

By separating the variables

1
dy  k dt
y
1
 y dy   k dt
Ln y  kt  c y  e kt c  e kt ec
 Let A  ec then y  Ae kt

At t=0 , y=50 50  Ae  A
0 then y  50e kt

At t=2 , y=45 45  50e 2 k

then e2 k  45/ 50
2k  Ln  45/ 50 
1
k  Ln  45/ 50   0.053 then y  50e 0.053t
2
(b) After four hours the amount of the material will be

 0.053 4 
y  50e  40.5 mg

(c) When the amount of the material is one half the initial amount we have y=25
and then

25  50e0.053t
1
t Ln  25/ 50   13 hours
0.053
Simple RL Electrical Circuits

The basic equation that governing the amount of current I (in amperes) in a simple
RL circuit consisting of a resistance R (in ohms), an inductor L (in henries), and an
electromotive force E (in volts) is

dI R E
 I
dt L L

This equation is a linear equation and then it could be solved to find a relation
between the current and the time
Example 2
An RL Circuit has an electromotive force E = 5 volts, a resistance R = 50 ohms,
an inductance L = 1 henry. The equation that is governing the amount of current
I (in amperes) is

dI R E
 I
dt L L
If the initial current in the circuit is zero.
(a) Find the current in the circuit at any time t (in min)
(b) Find the current in the circuit after one sec

Solution

We have E  5 , R  50 , L  1 then the equation will be on the form

dI
 50 I  5
dt
(a) This is a linear equation in which p(t )  50
q(t )  5

Then  e  p ( t ) dt
e  50 dt
 e50t

The solution will be calculated by using that  I    q(t ) dt

1 50t 1
e 50 t
I   5e 50 t
dt  e  c I   ce 50t
10 10
At t=0 , I =0 then

1 1 1
0   ce   c
0
c
10 10 10

Hence
I  1  e50t 
1
10
(b) After one sec t=1/60 we have

I  1  e 
1 50 / 60
 0.05654
10